THE Federal Government is considering payment of N800 billion fuel subsidy arrears to oil marketers, provision of tax holidays and other incentives as part of measures targeted at ending the lingering scarcity. These and other issues were pushed forward at the engagement of stakeholders, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC; Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR; Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN; Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN; Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, DAPPMA and others, hosted by Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources in Abuja, yesterday.

Mr. Idang Alibi, Director, Press in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, who spoke with Vanguard on phone, yesterday, declined to provide information, noting that the engagement was still ongoing. But a source, who attended the meeting, but preferred not to be named, told Vanguard that the payment of the debt was adopted, as it will enable the oil marketers settle huge debts to commercial banks and embark on new importation of petroleum products.
He said other measures adopted to tackle the crisis, include maintenance of local refineries, preferential allocation of foreign exchange to oil marketers and increased monitoring of petroleum products by DPR. The source said stakeholders, who agreed not to increase the price of fuel, also resolved to adopt cost-cutting strategies, while four sub-committees were inaugurated to address the challenges of fuel supply across the country. He said: “There is no planned increase in fuel price. The minister said it should not be contemplated. None of us want fuel price to rise.

What we talked about was tax holidays and other things in that line. “Also, all stakeholders have agreed to look inward and improve efficiency so that we can cut down cost and resume our business. Nobody is concerned about price increment. “The Minister also inaugurated some sub-committees, about four in number, some of which are logistics and business conduct committees. Some individuals were appointed into all the committees.” The source said all the agreements reached at the meeting, which was still ongoing at press time, would be relayed to the Presidency, hopefully by today, before they are made public.

The committee was headed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and has as members, heads of some parastatals under the ministry, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, DAPPMA, IPMAN and labour officials. Diversion Also, another source at the meeting told vanguard that it was discovered that diversion played a major role in the current scarcity in the country, “as between 30 and 50 percent of petroleum products in other African countries are from Nigeria.

This is because the products are more expensive in those other countries than Nigeria. “It was discovered that most of the diversion take place in the Northern part of the country. That is why you hear that some number of trucks have been allocated to certain parts of the country, but will never get to the filling stations. Though the meeting did not want to blame anybody, it was obvious that certain people are not doing their jobs and are conniving with smugglers to undermine the system.”

Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/01/way-fuel-crisis-payment-n800b-subsidy-arrears-cards/